Anthony Foxx promotes clean mass transit on two fronts — as the mayor of Charlotte, N.C., and as an in-house lawyer for a company that makes eco-friendly buses.

Now his dual roles could pose a problem for Foxx as the Senate considers whether to confirm him to head the Department of Transportation.

Federal records show that DesignLine Corp., where Foxx works as deputy general counsel, has twice failed to meet its promises on contracts using stimulus money from DOT — the same agency President Barack Obama has tapped Foxx to run.

The contracts with the city of Los Angeles and a California transit authority, which had received DOT grants to update their bus fleets, would have been worth a total of $14.5 million had the company delivered. The company received about a $2 million down payment for one contract but returned the money, the records show.

DesignLine has also done business with Charlotte while Foxx has been mayor, although he recused himself from involvement with those decisions. The city used Energy Department stimulus money in one of the purchases.

Nobody has accused Foxx of wrongdoing, and company spokesman Nick Weber said Foxx didn’t work on the two California stimulus contracts. But DesignLine’s stumbles could provide fodder for congressional Republicans looking to tarnish a rising Democratic star.

Attempts to reach Foxx through either the mayor’s office or the White House were unsuccessful.

After POLITICO described the contract problems, a House GOP leadership aide said DesignLine’s lack of follow-through on the transportation agreements could be a subject of Republican interest in the Senate, especially given the stimulus connection.

“Questioning his judgment in the context of his past work for this company is fair game, as he’ll be charged with doling the money out if confirmed,” the aide said.

On the other hand, a Republican Senate aide involved in transportation issues wasn’t sure how much enthusiasm the issue would draw.

“Foxx is low-profile and [I’m] not sure folks will care,” that aide said. “I sure as hell don't.”

Foxx became mayor — a part-time position — in December 2009 and joined DesignLine the same month. He wasn’t working for the Charlotte-based company when it won the two California contracts, although both contracts unraveled and were eventually canceled during his time there.

A White House official told POLITICO that Foxx’s role at the company was to offer legal advice on a range of issues like contract disputes, corporate governance and employment law. Foxx never had a hand in production, the cause of the delays and contract cancellations.

Weber said the company uses “multiple law firms” to handle various aspects of its business. He would not say how many other lawyers DesignLine has on staff.

Weber said the company has overcome its past problems and is successfully carrying out projects around the country.

“During the tenure of a previous leadership team of the company, DesignLine faced some challenges in meeting production deadlines,” Weber wrote. “These challenges made it difficult to fulfill the above items. However, because the contracts were canceled, I believe no stimulus money ever ended up being paid to DesignLine. Additionally, the issues around production deadlines have since been solved.”

Nobody in the GOP has raised questions about Foxx’s role in DesignLine, which has not received previous scrutiny in the national media. Lawmakers in both parties have offered early praise for Foxx, whose push for mass transit includes his championing of a streetcar project for his city.

Without addressing any specific aspect of Foxx’s record, Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) indicated earlier this week that Republicans want to know more about whether the nominee can oversee a department with an approximately $75 billion budget and more than 55,000 employees.

“I’ll be very interested in learning about Mayor Anthony Foxx’s qualifications to be the national leader on transportation policy,” Vitter said after Obama announced Foxx’s nomination on Monday.

Steve Ellis at Taxpayers for Common Sense, a group that has extensively tracked stimulus dollars, called DesignLine’s problems a blow for Foxx’s business credentials — but not necessarily for his ability to lead DOT.

“While it probably doesn’t reflect well on him as a businessman, it doesn’t necessarily disqualify him as Transportation secretary,” Ellis said Friday. “It would be a bigger deal if they had pocketed the money and didn’t deliver or delivered a faulty product.”

DesignLine specializes in making electric, hybrid and alternative-fueled vehicles and has a history of collecting big names from politics, government and the military. Its board of directors has included former North Carolina Gov. Jim Martin, a Republican, along with two retired generals and a former DOT chief financial officer, according to documents filed in 2009 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company flirted in the past with going public but is now privately held.

But the company has sometimes run into trouble delivering on promises to customers. It lost the two stimulus-related contracts in California after the city of Los Angeles and the Antelope Valley Transit Authority complained about the company’s delays in fulfilling bus orders.

Los Angeles had ordered 16 buses from DesignLine in July 2009 after the city received an $8 million DOT stimulus grant. The city canceled the contract in December 2010 “after numerous delays in meeting contractual milestones” by DesignLine, according to stimulus documents.

The city, which didn’t pay any of the grant money to DesignLine, blamed the delays on engineering problems related to complying with standards for riders with disabilities. The

terms of the contract allowed the city to terminate it without cause.

Antelope Valley, which also got stimulus money from DOT, agreed in September 2009 to pay DesignLine $6.5 million for 11 buses. But the agency complained more than a year later that the company was “no closer to delivering a bus.” It added, “Legal options are being considered.”

Antelope Valley canceled the agreement in 2011, and the company returned the down payment.

DesignLine also had problems performing on a third contract that the Charlotte Area Transit System issued in 2008 for a turbine/diesel hybrid bus, although that project didn’t involve stimulus money. That contract expired in December 2012 before any buses were delivered, a CATS spokeswoman said.

In addition, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority canceled a $61 million contract with DesignLine over technology issues, alleging its hybrid engine did not provide enough power, the Charlotte Business Journal reported in 2011.

Such problems are not unheard of in the world of mass transit, an executive at a nearby rival bus company said — especially for high-tech products like DesignLine’s.

“Technology is a challenge,” the official said, speaking anonymously because he works for a direct competitor. The quest to make vehicles lighter and more fuel efficient has downsides, the official said — a problem that recently emerged in the aviation world after batteries in Boeing’s Dreamliner jet began overheating and catching fire.

Foxx was still working for the company as of this week, a spokesman for the mayor confirmed on Thursday. Foxx has previously told the Charlotte Observer that his job description included litigation and personnel issues, but not lobbying.

Foxx had earlier begun doing legal work for DesignLine in March 2009 while employed by the law firm Hunton & Williams, the Observer reported.

Even for contracts that didn’t face problems, Foxx has had to take steps to avoid conflicts of interest while the city’s airport gradually bought a fleet of 10 buses from the company during his years in city government.

In 2011, for instance, the city council issued a $1.35 million sole-source contract for three airport buses to Foxx’s company while he presided over the meeting, although minutes show he recused himself.

In June 2010, the council approved a no-bid, $2.7 million contract for five DesignLine buses, using $1 million in stimulus money from the Energy Department to replace diesel buses with hybrids. Foxx recused himself from that business as well, according to minutes.

As a city council member in 2007, before joining DesignLine, Foxx seconded a unanimous motion to buy two buses from DesignLine for $880,000, according to meeting minutes.

Foxx’s job-juggling is the legacy of an era when Charlotte, one of the South’s largest cities, was a much sleepier place. The mayor’s position offers a $22,000 salary, and North Carolina political observers said having an additional job has been commonplace for years. Foxx’s predecessor, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, faced many questions during his mayorship over his work with Duke Energy.

Warren Cooksey, one of two GOP members of the council, said DesignLine’s sales to the airport didn’t raise red flags, even for Republicans who clashed with Foxx on other matters. “From my perspective, it was never an issue,” he told POLITICO.

Despite presiding over city council meetings, Foxx typically does not get a vote, although he can vote in rare cases such as a tie, certain zoning changes and the hiring of senior city officials. But he is one of only two mayors in the state with veto authority over council decisions, Cooksey noted — a power he has used only once.

DesignLine still is doing big business with U.S. transit agencies. The company is in the midst of delivering 76 buses to New Jersey Transit and has also entered into a contract to deliver buses to Denver, spokesman Weber said. The company expects to build 100 buses this year and has grown from 70 employees in 2012 to more than 240 people this year, he said.

“It has provided buses in the past for service operations to Charlotte Airport, Baltimore, Arlington Co., and Denver,” Weber wrote. “The company pursues other opportunities as they present themselves.”

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 7:35 p.m. on May 3, 2013.